Ashburton Jersey Ltd Has $1.62 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 13th, 2023

Ashburton Jersey Ltd grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 48.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,063 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for 0.8% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 46.9% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 57,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,068,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 10,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the first quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 58,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,111,000 after buying an additional 5,720 shares in the last quarter. 83.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Atlantic Securities lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.22.

Read Our Latest Research Report on MS

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $85.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.94. The stock has a market cap of $141.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $74.67 and a fifty-two week high of $100.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.02 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 10.99%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 28th. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 59.96%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, June 30th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 12.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Gorman sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.19, for a total value of $11,898,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $96,269,930.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Gorman sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.19, for a total value of $11,898,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $96,269,930.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward N. Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $9,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 604,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,055,028.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 369,100 shares of company stock valued at $34,634,996. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.